Cashew Cream Tart Recipe

There are some afternoons where we are all craving a sweet treat. Most packaged and store bought treats contain only refined sugars, and about zero nutrition. When you make treats at home, you can use wholesome ingredients which give your kids nutrition while satisfying that sweet craving. This Cashew Cream Tart recipe comes from the lovely Chocolate Covered Katie’s new cookbook which is full of dessert recipes that have had a healthy makeover!

One of the great things about these tarts, is that you don’t have to bake them! I whipped them up in about 20 minutes. The recipe tells you to freeze the tart crust while you are making the cashew cream. When you pull it out, it tastes like cookie dough – and I’m a huge fan of cold cookie dough. It was kind of hard to not eat half the batch! One of the ingredients is dates. Dates have a lot of fiber as well as minerals making them a great sweetener for many desserts!

Because it is summer we have lots of fresh berries available which were amazing on these tarts. If you make them out of berry season, some fruits that would be delicious are bananas, cuties, and frozen berries are always delicious!

When you start to make foods that don’t require cooking, I have found that having a good food processor is a must. There is a lot of blending ingredients, and if you don’t have equipment that will combine things properly, they don’t turn out great. The cashew cream in this recipe is one of those things. You need to combine it really well so that it comes out fluffy and delicious instead of chunky and grainy. I kept it going in my food processor for a few minutes to get it to the right consistency.

You can keep these in your fridge for up to 3 days. I just kept mine on a plate in the fridge, and my family could come and grab one if they needed a little something sweet. I love that they have nuts in them for the protein and fiber – so much more satisfying that candy or cake!

Chocolate Covered Katie has lots of really yummy recipes on her website as well as her book. Check out this deliciously healthy book on Amazon!

Cashew Cream Tart Recipe

Tart Shells

2 cups raw walnuts

1 1/3 cups packed pitted dates

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons water, if needed

Filling

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water at room temperature for 6-8 hours, then drained and patted dry

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

pinch pure stevia extract or 2 tablespoons sweetener of choice

can't 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

For the shells: Combine the walnuts, dates, oats and salt in a high-quality food processor, and process unti small crumbles form and the dough begins to stick together in one big ball.

If mixture is too dry, add up to 2 tablespoons water and continue to process.

Break off pieces of dough with your hands and press inside one 24 cup or two 12-cup mini muffin tins, presseing down in the middle so that a cup shape is formed.

Freeze for 20 minutes, until hardened.

Meanwhile, for the filling: In a high-quality food processor or blender, process the drained cahsews with the water, vanilla, stevia or sweetener and salt until completely smooth, scraping down the sides occasionally.

Pop the frozen tart shells out of the tin and fill with the cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve.